CHAPTER TWELVE

This mission was going to need everyone. Finding Luther would be nearly impossible, though he had given Benji a vague idea of where he might be. It'd be much simpler to find Grace. That task landed on Brandt's shoulders, as he was the only person free to travel back to the United States. As far as he knew, Grace was still being cleared for IMF duty somewhere in Virginia.

Washington, Virginia –

Grace was not relaxing in a nice apartment or busy at IMF Headquarters. Instead, she found herself sneaking around the Pentagon. Getting inside had been challenging, but she wasn't accepted as an IMF agent for nothing. She had also learned more than a thing or two during her IMF training. Yet, she didn't know Brandt was on her tail.

Within a storage closet, Grace prepared to climb into the air vent. The vent itself was more cumbersome than she had imagined. She was startled by Brandt's voice. "Need a hand?"

"Who the hell are you?" Grace asked.

"William Brandt. Ethan sent me to collect you. We're at the end, and we need you there."

Grace paused. "How can I know that you're a friend of Ethan's?"

"You can ask him," Brandt said. He pulled a Nokia phone from his pocket and dialed. After a moment, he spoke. "She wants proof. No, we're in the Pentagon. Don't ask how. Want to talk to her?"

He handed Grace the phone. Ethan greeted her fondly. "Hello, Grace. This phone is isolated from The Entity's reach, but I don't have long to talk. Brandt's an old friend. He'll get you here if you choose to accept our invitation."

"Answer just one question. How did you keep me close in Rome?"

"Handcuffs," Ethan answered, proving his identity. "We can kill it. Are you in? If you are, you need to leave with Brandt right now."

Grace hesitated. "I want to help, but I can't come now. Paris is about to be interrogated for the first time. She survived on the train, Ethan. She's been in hospital until now. I was planning on reaching out to you once I had taped the interrogation."

"Perfect. Have Brandt help you. I'll see you again soon," Ethan replied.

When he ended the call, Grace handed Brandt the cellphone. "Ethan says you're going to help me."

"Okay. I guess I'm helping. What's the plan?"

"We're going to take this airshaft to the restricted floor. I'll bump into Briggs in the hallway. When I do, I'll put this microphone in his pocket. It's strong enough to pick up anything said in that room. It has a local radio signal that connects to a recorder. All isolated from The Entity. Once it's done, we slip through the back."

Brandt smirked. "And here you thought you were just a thief. Let's go."

"My question still stands. Who the hell are you?" Grace wondered as Brandt removed the vent.

"I'm a chief analyst."

"You sit behind a desk?"

"Yes," Brandt responded. He effortlessly pulled himself into the airshaft and offered Grace his hand. "But that's not where I started."

Grace grinned. "Handsome and capable. I think I'm going to like working with you, Mr. Brandt."

Prague, Czech Republic –

Luther rarely left the safety of his temporary home. He allowed himself a single trip into the city for supplies once a week. There was a tiny market he frequented for groceries. He liked to take his time in the produce department. If he was going to eat fruit, it'd better be good.

That day, he picked through apples. When he reached the bottom of the barrel, he noticed that a word had been painted on it. It was a word he and Benji had agreed on in case the time came for him to return. It read: FIRE.

Luther left his shopping basket on the floor and exited the market. He went home and gathered his materials. Afterwards, he put a comm into his ear. It was one that operated on an obscure satellite, the same they had used in Austria. He knew that Benji would be the only one listening.

"The fire started at midnight," Luther said, using their code phrase.

A few moments later, Benji gave his response. "It burned until dawn. Good to hear from you, Luther. Looking for you was like looking for a needle in a very large haystack. We're at the end. We need you."

"Where do I go?"

"I can't say it out loud. I'll leave a note for you in a locker at the train station. Number 129. I'll have a special lock on it that only you can crack. See you soon."

Borgholm, Sweden –

Brandt and Grace arrived at the seaside cottage before Luther. Grace gave a cordial nod to Benji, and then she embraced Ethan. She held up the recording that she and Brandt had escaped the Pentagon with.

"Did you have any problems?" Ethan asked.

"It got a little hairy, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle," Brandt answered.

Grace held a flirtatious gaze. "Your friend, Mr. Brandt, is quite the operative. Would you like to listen to the tape now? It's very interesting material. I'm glad Gabriel didn't manage to kill her."

"His track record with eliminating women is spotty lately," Ilsa commented as she joined the group in the living area.

The color drained from Grace's face. "Ilsa. But you died. Gabriel stabbed you. I saw it."

"It was nothing serious. We wanted him to believe that I was dead, so we let everyone believe it," Ilsa answered.

"Still mad about being left out of that vital loop, by the way," Benji chimed.

Ethan shook his head. "Let's listen to the tape. Grace?"

Grace prepared the tape so that everyone could listen. Briggs' voice started it. "What was your connection to Gabriel?"

"He hired me to assist him and The Entity," Paris replied.

"Why'd he try to kill you?" Briggs continued.

"Ethan Hunt spared my life. Gabriel thought that made me a liability, and he was right. I betrayed him and saved Hunt."

Briggs hummed. "I see. What did you tell Hunt?"

"I told him about the submarine and what the key opens. It leads to the code that can control or destroy The Entity. What I didn't have time to tell Hunt was what Gabriel planned to do with the code."

"And what is he planning?" Briggs went on.

"He wants to destroy the code. He wants The Entity to operate on its own, unhindered, so that it will devastate the modern world. Everything we know would be gone, and we could start a new world. The one Gabriel and The Entity envisions," Paris explained. "Mr. Briggs, your government wanted to work with Gabriel to control The Entity. He will never work with anyone to control it. That's not the goal. The entire world faces the wrath of Gabriel and The Entity."

Briggs sighed. "How can I believe you?"

"I believed in what Gabriel and The Entity wanted. A new world. But I don't want a man like Gabriel to bring about that change. Not after he turned on me. I suggest you let Hunt destroy The Entity and Gabriel. Otherwise, they destroy the world."

That was where the tape ended. Grace frowned. "We were made and had to move out of range, but I think we got enough."

"So, Gabriel wants to let The Entity run free," Benji said.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "The Entity would've picked the perfect partner in Gabriel. He's sadistic enough to want the world to implode. But…"

"But?" Brandt asked.

"If Gabriel really wanted to destroy the code, he would never have let us escape the Bering Sea. He would have stopped at nothing to get the code. Us having it would be too much of a threat," Ethan replied.

Ilsa knew what Ethan was thinking. "Gabriel is going to betray The Entity. He's going to use the code to control it for himself. By letting you extract the code and escape with it, he's giving himself a chance to get it back. The Entity would've known that something was wrong if he got the code and didn't destroy it immediately."

"He wants us to take the code to the server so he can use it at the last second," Ethan added.

"The Entity is sentient, but it isn't human. It doesn't have intuition like we have. Just the ability to read markers like in a polygraph. Gabriel can say and do all the right things according to its program knowledge, and it isn't going to know what's coming. That's why he went through the motions of trying to stop us even though he planned to let us get this far," Benji realized.

Ethan nodded. "Gabriel is trying to pull off the biggest betrayal in modern history."

"And if we take the code to him at the server, we might accidentally put the most powerful—and destructive—AI ever created into the hands of a madman," Benji said.

It was at that moment when Luther came through the door. He saw Ilsa at Ethan's side and had caught the tail end of their conversation. Luther took off his fedora with a low breath. "A man goes off the grid for just a little while and he misses everything…"

"All that said, don't we still have to go to the server?" Brandt asked.

"Yes. It's going to take all our gifts to pull this off," Ethan responded. He then took Ilsa's hand, smiling slightly. "But the key to our plan is Ilsa."